you're saying now, the debt ceiling showdown, you had a lot of republicans, leadership particularly who walked into this mess where they actually had their rank and file to do a debt default. they needed some way, any way out of it. so what the white house, the democrats put in front of them was the committee, the sequester, they were so happy to have any kind of lifeline, and john boehner comes out, pretends it is a victory, 98%, keeping the members in line. now here it is, a ticking time bomb for republicans, a year, year and a half, they're realizing, wait a minute, we don't have much leverage with the sequester after all. >> but the thing is, boehner did get 98% of what he wanted if you believe that he really wants spending cuts. >> right, exactly, but he doesn't want any spending cuts. he wants spending cuts in very specific programs. >> none in defense. >> not a penny. >> that is the main area they want to avoid, which is exactly why the president pushed to put the spending cuts in. they, as you point out, made a huge strategic error. they had much more power, much more momentum b